


We have seen such things and we are still so young

by thought



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Greed lives, M/M, everyone fails at communicating like adults
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-05-31 16:19:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15123236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thought/pseuds/thought
Summary: For Greed, possession and love are practically synonymous.Ling can work with this.





	We have seen such things and we are still so young

**Author's Note:**

> I know this concept has been done to death and I'm not sorry.  
> Should I be posting this at 1:00 AM? Probably not and yet here we are.

When Greed comes back (new body, no explanation, not looking any gift horses in mouths, third time's hopefully the fucking charm) Ling doesn't speak to him for three days. This is, coincidentally, the amount of time it takes for the Xingese delegation to disentangle themselves from the lingering political and practical repercussions of the battle and prepare for the trip back across the desert.

Greed has been keeping to himself for the most part-- Elric and his military pals may insist that he's under no threat from the army and its associates, but Greed has lived long enough that he knows promises from those at the (very precarious) top mean little when faced by the many discontent or uninformed at the bottom. He should leave. He knows this. Not like there's anything left for him here. Not like there was anything for him here beyond patricide in the first place. Elric has his brother back. The Chimeras have been helping out with clearing the rubble and bodies from the battle (when they're not dragging Elric away from his brother's hospital bed to eat and sleep). And Ling... Well. Ling clearly doesn't want anything to do with him. Probably glad to have his head back to himself. Probably busy with diplomatic bullshit or convincing his kid sister he's not gonna murder her in her sleep and she should therefore extend the same courtesy.

Greed figures he'll leave when Ling does. Use the distraction of the Xingese royalty's departure to slip away without any awkward goodbyes or false offers to keep in touch.

...yeah, he's not really fooling himself, either. Fuck off.

Thing is, he misses Ling like a missing limb. And not in a sappy, emotional way, either. In the very literal sense that there is a part of him that is absent, an emptiness, a lack, where there should be a piece of him. He thinks this must be how Elric had felt when he first lost his arm and leg. Greed has grown used to having someone to bounce his ideas off of, another presence pressed up against his own to catch anything he misses, to slide smoothly into control of the body if he's distracted or fucked up or bored. He feels almost sickeningly alone, in a way he's never experienced, and his new, unfamiliar body doesn’t help matters any more than the fact that his entire family, assholes though they may have been, are dead. His family has always been there, and when he left it hadn't taken long before he'd found other possessions to replace them.

'Friends,' Ling's voice says in his head. But not really. Because Ling's not there anymore. He's actual kilometers away, and Greed has no idea what he's doing or thinking or feeling and it's pissing him off. This whole situation is pissing him off.

The way he figures, it's like someone who's a perpetual drinker, or spends a lot of time in the opium dens, and then stops. Greed's never experienced it himself, obviously -- and oh how it had pissed Martel off that he never even got hangovers -- but he's known people like that. Their bodies can't handle it. Maybe their minds, too. So Greed is just, letting himself adjust. Better to be near Ling for a little while before he leaves for good. It's science, really. And after that, he'll learn to cope. Not everyone can afford automail, there are plenty of people who do just fine without one of their limbs. Not like he needs Ling. Wants him around, sure, but Greed’s all about what he wants, there’s no shame in that. No weakness. Need is a whole other story.

It doesn't take as long as Greed expects for Ling and Mei to decide they're ready to go. He was hoping to get a week, at least. Lan Fan gets into a shouting match with Elric's mechanic friend the night before they leave.

"Automail doesn't do so great in the desert," Elric explains, when Greed raises an eyebrow.

Greed snorts. "Like that's gonna stop her."

"She's being stupid," Elric says. "You have to know your limitations so you don't wind up being a burden on your friends."

Greed... doesn't even know where to start with that, so he leaves before he says something that'll piss Elric off. He doesn't have the patience to deal with his screaming, and besides, he can hear Ling trying to mediate the argument and it's always fun to watch somebody else yell at the idiot prince for a change.

Lan Fan eventually wins the argument by virtue of just walking away. Greed leaves, before the mechanic can start searching out a target for her rage. Definitely not because Ling is blatantly refusing to look at him.

"We're leaving tomorrow at sunrise," Ling says, seemingly to no one. Greed assumes Lan Fan isn't as absent as it appears.

The next day, Elric and the chimeras and the old man General gather near the main road out of town to say their goodbyes. The Princess has already said her goodbyes-- Greed had seen her coming out of the younger Elric's hospital room the previous night and, later, she'd disappeared into the rabbit warren of central's back alleyways for a couple hours and returned looking alarmingly determined. Greed hopes whoever she saw hadn't rekindled her desire to take the throne for her clan. Ling's already promised his clan's protection for hers when he becomes Emperor. Elric had pointed out that Ling wasn't Emperor yet, and Ling had just laughed. Greed hates to admit it, but it's the most appropriate reaction. He's gonna be Emperor, no question about it, if by his ability to annoy everyone into giving in if nothing else.

Greed loiters under the overhang of one of the surviving buildings, close enough to hear what everyone's saying but not close enough to get dragged into conversation himself. Everybody's a little awkward, like now that the fighting and running and hiding is all over they've returned to the real world and don't quite know what to do with it.

"Nice, asshole," Derrius calls over to him, because he's a traitor. "Aren't you gonna come say goodbye? Did our six-months of pre-apocalypse depression camping mean nothing?"

Greed flips him off. He had been hoping nobody would notice him. Elric turns towards him, and he crosses over to the group before everyone can start to stare. So much for sneaking away.

"Thanks," Elric mutters, punching his shoulder. "I guess you were kinda useful after all."

Greed frowns. "Back at you, I guess. Good job not getting sacrificed."

"Alright," Ling says, clapping his hands together. Mei is already heading down the road, rapidly disappearing over the swell of a hill. "It's been fun. Let's never do this again. Please do come visit, my country is beautiful and I would be glad to have any of you."

"We appreciate the kind offer, Prince Yao," the old General says, formally. "Have a safe journey."

Ling nods, hitches the pack up higher on his back. "Lan Fan, Greed, let's go before Mei decides she's going to cross the desert on her own again."

It takes Greed a few seconds to process Ling's words, the first words he's said to Greed since Greed had decided fucking up Father was worth a little bit of permanent death. Elric shoves him a bit, and Greed starts walking because he may want to yell at Ling but he sure as hell doesn't want to do it in front of an audience. Besides, he'll be damned if he lets himself look like the idiot who wasn't in on the plan.

He waits until they can no longer see the others, and they've hit a quiet stretch of road before he turns on Ling.

"What the fuck?"

Ling arches his eyebrows, and Greed is damn glad they're the same height because the kid would definitely be looking down his nose at him if he had the ability. "Yes?"

"Don't act all confused," Greed snaps. "What the fuck is this? You ignore me, ignore my weird fucking miraculous recovery, won't even look at me when we're in the same room, and then you just, what, snap your fingers and expect me to follow you home anyway?"

Ling actually looks a little startled. "I don't see how the fact that I'm furious at you has anything to do with you coming to Xing."

Lan Fan actually has to muffle a snort. Ling glares at her. Greed's glad he's not the only one who thinks the prince is acting crazier than usual.

"I'd say it has everything to do with it," he says. “You don't bring somebody you hate home with you, especially when home involves a coup and/or assassination."

"I really don't think it counts as a coup," Ling says, shrugging. "And I don't hate you, what gave you that idea?"

Greed is actually fucking speechless for a good minute. "Uhh, see above? If this is how you treat your friends no wonder you only have one."

Ling puffs up indignantly, but Lan Fan cuts in before he can say anything. "The young Lord," she says, pointedly, "doesn't like it when people he cares about put themselves in danger to keep him safe. Even though he knows better."

"Lan Fan," Ling says, sharply, but she meets his gaze head-on.

"Well," says Greed. "Do I have some good news for you. I didn't fucking get myself killed for you. I did it because my dad was a colossal dick and I wanted him dead more than I want most things. Which is saying something."

"You lied to my face," Ling snarls. "You said we would fight him together."

"Yeah," Greed mutters, glancing down. "Sorry about that. About lying, I mean. Not about fighting him on my own, I had a plan. I knew what I was doing."

"We could have made a different plan," Ling says, sharply.

"Yeah, but mine was the best plan."

"Your plan got you killed!"

Greed shrugs. "And yet it was still the best plan. That's the thing about apocalypses, they aren't exactly full of win-win choices."

Ling unclenches his jaw deliberately, and Greed can see him pulling years of diplomacy lessons around himself, as much as mask as the one Lan Fan wears when there are others around.

"If you had told me--"

"We would have wasted even more time while I had to convince you that my way was the best way. Too risky. Also, too annoying."

Ling exhales harshly through his teeth, but doesn't say anything. Lan Fan looks over at Greed. "You made the right choice," she says.

"Do not," Ling bites out.

"Like I said, I didn't do it for him, I did it for revenge. And saving the country or whatever, I guess. Mostly revenge."

"Mmhm," Lan Fan says, smirking a bit. He rolls his eyes at her. Her smirk grows bigger.

"Shut up," Greed says.

"I didn't say anything."

"Children," Ling says, not looking back at them.

"You are definitely the youngest of the three of us," Greed says.

"Categorically untrue," Ling chirps. "Lan Fan was born three days after I was. And if we're going by physical age--"

"We're not," Greed cuts in--

"then you're about three days old. I could be generous and say six months, if you like."

"Perhaps... don't put it that way," Lan Fan suggests, and as respectful as she sounds Greed can see the amusement sparkling in her eyes.

"My point stands," Ling says. "Talk to me when you have all 200 years of your memory back."

They continue in silence for a few minutes, coming closer to the outskirts of the city. Trains still aren't running, and Greed wonders why nobody had offered the fucking foreign royalty a car to borrow until they reached the desert. Even some horses wouldn't go amiss. Greed may be able to continue walking, tireless, but the others are mortal. He wonders if any of his energy remains within Ling.

"So what exactly is your plan, here?” Greed asks once they've left the city behind them. "Drag me in front of your dad and stab me until he believes I'm immortal and has me carted off to a lab, then smile pretty and hope he just hands over the throne out of gratitude?"

"Oh," ling says, lightly. "Now you care about my plans? I assumed when you let yourself be killed, leaving me without any sort of proof of immortality or a Philosopher's Stone, that you weren't particularly engaged."

"Holey fuck," says Greed. "How long are you gonna complain about this?" Though he supposes Ling's anger with him makes a bit more sense if you look at it that way. He would have been returning to Xing with nothing.

"We did have a deal," ling says, still in that airy, bored tone.

Greed snorts. "Nah. Deal makes it sound so fucking civilized. We were using each other."

"You didn't seem opposed."

"Hey, I'm not saying it was a bad thing. I'm just saying, don't call it something it wasn't."

"I'll make a note of that," Ling says, and walks a bit faster, conversation clearly over.

*

That night, they make camp in a copse of evergreens, Mei huddled a little ways away with her back to the trunk of a large spruce and her knives in her hands. Ling frowns at her, but doesn't say anything, and Greed and Lan fan share a real meaningful moment bonding over how much they do not give a fuck about the awkward murderous sibling drama.

Greed offers to take first watch, which gives him a perfect excuse to remain awake and dressed while everyone else falls asleep. He gives it a good hour to make sure they're really asleep, then creeps carefully across the dead grass and fallen needles, heading out into the dark and even further away from the road.

He walks for a good ten minutes before Ling appears from fucking nowhere and slams him back against a tree. Greed almost fuckin' skewers him, but even if his body doesn't yet know Ling's body, his mind is fundamentally coded to recognize his sent and heartbeat and breath as safe, familiar, his.

Greed could push him off, easily, but Ling hasn't drawn his sword and he's got Greed's arms pinned with the exact amount of force and twist to make it fucking painful without causing actual damage. Ling had always been more aware of the limits of their body than Greed had bothered to be.

"I'm not intending to allow you to be experimented on," Ling bites out, clearly furious and failing to control it as much as he'd like. "I can't believe I have to say this, I didn't think you were quite this obtuse."

"Maybe I don't feel like fucking following you around for the next few decades," Greed shoots back. "You ever think of that?"

Ling laughs in his face. "No," he says, and Greed takes a few seconds to imagine in vivid detail the satisfying crack his nose would make if Greed punched him in the face. "I haven't intended to use you as a bargaining chip for months, and you know it. And if you didn’t know that, I really will be angry about you getting yourself killed and leaving me with nothing. Possession goes both ways, you know."

"Like hell it does," Greed shoots back.

"When we get to Xing," Ling says, almost sing-song like he's telling a story, "I'm going to kill the Emperor. And no, you and Lan fan aren't allowed to do it for me, this will already be unorthodox enough as it is. After that, there will be months of ceremonies and paperwork and getting things settled, but there are a few things I’m planning to expedite. Mei will be declared Imperial Alkehistrist-- I know she may not want such a public position but it's the only way I can assure her clan's safety. I intend to ensure you have the papers proving your Xingese citizenship."

Greed stares at him and hopes he can see his eye roll. “Sure, that'll be real useful."

Ling's fingers dig hard enough into the skin of his inner arm that he can feel the blood vessels repairing themselves rapidly even as others burst under the bruising grip. "It will mean," he says, "that you have all the rights of a citizen. Of a person. So if anyone were to discover what you are, they wouldn't be able to justify any sort of experimentation." He loosens his hold, stroking absently at the skin he'd just been abusing. “And, perhaps more relevant to your interests, it will allow you to set up your own bank account. You shouldn't want for anything in the palace, but I know it will make you feel better to have money that's solely your own."

Greed huffs. "You just want a piece of paper that says I’m one of your subjects."

Greed's joking, mostly. Ling hisses out a breath like Greed's taken him by surprise. "Yes," he says, evenly.

"I’m not interested in belonging to anyone," Greed says. "It's supposed to go the other way around."

"I don't think that's true," Ling says. "I think no one has ever tried to keep you without demanding something of you that you aren't willing to give. And if you'll excuse me taking familiarities, no one else is quite working with your definition of possession. Plenty of people just call that friendship."

Greed finally breaks Ling's hold on his arms, though he doesn't push him back. There's something reassuring about having Ling pressed up so close they're breathing the same air, holding Greed pinned in place and steady even as he exposes his back to the open air, trusting that Greed will keep watch and protect him from attack. "If you'll excuse the fucking familiarity, Prince, if you say you just want me for my friendship I'm calling bullshit and walking away right here."

Ling muffles a chuckle in Greed's shoulder, pressing his cheek against the skin of Greed's neck for a few brief seconds before he straightens. He may play the idiot teenager when it suits him but Greed knows that Ling has never truly known what it means to be carefree, to act without considering the repercussions in twenty different directions. He likes that even in separate bodies Ling still let’s himself rage and laugh without making it a performance. "No, of course that's not all. But that's the majority of it. I care about you a great deal, as I'm sure you deduced from my rather... childish reaction to your death."

Greed chokes on a laugh. "Kind of got the exact opposite of that, actually, but A for effort."

Ling huffs, indignant. "Come on, was I the only one of us poking around in the other's feelings and memories?"

Greed stares. "Umm, yes? Like I gave a shit what you were feeling. And what the fuck do you mean, you were poking around?"

"Oh," says Ling. "Huh."

"Seriously?"

"In my defense, I had a lot of free time. And you were having a panic attack or pseudo-breakdown practically biweekly. I needed to know what I was dealing with."

"Well," says Greed. "I hope it was real fucking educational for you." It's hard to get mad about something like this when you've already shared a body and brainspace with someone for over half a year. Greed may not have gone specifically looking through Ling's mind, but he'd still bet he knows him better than anybody else.

"Anyway," says Ling. "Are you done running away?”

"Weak," Greed says. "I'm not Elric, reverse psychology isn't gonna work that easily."

"Fair," says Ling. "But also, I'm honestly curious. Can we go back to camp now or do I have to hold you down a little longer?"

Greed pushes his palm against Ling's face, shoving him backwards. "Shut up. I was letting you do that shit. I could've gotten away whenever I wanted."

Ling loops his arm through Greed's and drags him back in the direction of camp, practically bouncing. Greed doesn't need to see his face to know he's grinning smugly. "Yes. I know. That's my whole point."

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on [tumblr](http://thought-42.tumblr.com), if you want to hear more about how Greedling has destroyed my life


End file.
